The townspeople were gathered just outside the gates of the mansion. Ricardo was standing in the back of a wagon speaking to all of them in Spanish. They seemed a little confused about what was going on but for the most part, they just seemed relieved. A man in the crowd, one of the farmers that had helped them ambush the compound, shouted something up at Ricardo who turned to look at Charlie and Bass standing off to the side.

"They want to know where the children are," Ricardo told them.

The entire crowd was watching her carefully so Charlie attempted a smile. "They're alright. Maya's friend Claudia escaped with all of them when the fighting started."

She turned to Bass as Ricardo eased the worried parents. "I'm gonna go get them and bring them back. They should have made it out of the tunnel by now."

"I'll come with you," he said, moving to follow her.

Charlie started towards a wagon that already had the horses hitched to it, noticing Conner hanging back with Maya in the background. She stopped and laid a hand on Bass' arm.

"Hey, I think you should stay here. I'm gonna take Conner with me."

Bass frowned, his eyes sweeping over her face and over to his son. "Why?"

"Because he's the one that took them from their families, he needs to be the one that brings them home."

Nodding, Bass kissed her gently on the lips. "Don't be long."

She rolled her eyes at him and set off in Conner and Maya's direction. Grabbing the front of his jacket, she dragged him away from her and towards the wagon.

"Charlie, what the hell?"

"Come on, we've got work to do."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, sounding more annoyed than angry.

Maya caught up with them as Charlie all but shoved Conner onto the front bench of the wagon. "What is happening, where are you taking him?" She asked worriedly.

Charlie smiled warmly at her. "Don't worry, Maya. I'll bring him back to you in a little bit, he's just got a few more things to clean up first."

Hopping up into the seat next to him, Charlie grabbed the reigns and directed the horses towards Claudia's escape tunnel.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Conner asked.

"To rescue all of the kids that you kidnapped and forced into slavery," she replied dryly.

"Oh." He sat back in the seat and was quiet for a long time.

XxX

The townspeople had been informed that their children would be arriving home shortly and were waiting impatiently in the street. Maya and Ricardo were attempting to soothe the worried parents while Miles, Bass, and Jeremy rounded up the members of the cartel that were still alive. Only a few of them remained, all of which were spouting on about being forced to do Nunez's bidding. They decided to throw them in the vault at the old bank and let Ricardo deal with them later.

Miles slammed the vault door closed with a satisfied smile. "Well, now that that's done, we should go pack our crap."

"Pack? Where are we going?" Jeremy asked.

"We've been here long enough. I mean, sure, these people are happy we're here now, but as soon as they stop and think about who we really are they're gonna want us out of here."

Bass nodded solemnly. "Which means we need to go before the angry farmers with pitchforks show up at our door."

"Yeah."

Jeremy sighed. "Why couldn't I have just found some normal friends that don't always have people trying to kill them?"

XxX

"Where are they?" Conner asked as Charlie examined the ground around the tunnel entrance. They had come out here expecting the find the children waiting but unfortunately, it seemed like Claudia had a different idea in mind.

"Maybe Claudia is just trying to get the kids as far away from Nunez as possible. She had no way of knowing how the fight would turn out, so she's probably just taking them someplace safe."

"Well the closest town is ten miles east of here. How far do you think they could have gotten?"

"A bunch of malnourished children with no experience in the outdoors? I'd have to say not far. Two, maybe three miles."

Conner hauled himself back up into the wagon and grabbed the reigns. "Then let's get moving. The sun is up and it's only going to get hotter, we need to get them out of desert before they all die of dehydration."

Charlie climbed up next to him and they started off again. This time she let him drive and took the opportunity to watch him quietly. Something about his new attitude was bothering her. Not that having a nice Conner was a bad thing, it was just really unusual.

"What's going on with you?"

He gave her a quick sideways glance and feigned innocence. "What are you talking about?"

"Ever since I sprung you from Nunez's basement, you've been acting... different."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Charlie bit her lip thoughtfully. "It isn't. It's good, actually. You just seem... unhappy, maybe?"

Conner scoffed and shook his head. "I'm free, Nunez is dead, and all of the kids are going home. How could I possibly be unhappy?"

Smiling, she nudged his shoulder. "Don't forget about Maya. For some odd reason, she loves your stupid ass." But instead of making him laugh like she'd thought it would, Conner remained silent.

"Is this about Maya?" Charlie asked incredulously. "Oh no, don't tell me that you're not actually in love her and that you just said you were so she would sleep with you."

He nearly dropped the reigns in shock. "What, no! Of course I love her."

"Then what's the problem?"

He was quiet for a moment. "It's just that... we'll have to leave soon. The people in town aren't just going to stop hating me because I bring their kids back. I give it a week and they'll be beating down my door."

Charlie nodded slowly. "Yeah, and..."

"And I can't just ask Maya to come with me. This is her home, she's never even left town. There's no way she can live the kind of life we do, constantly moving around and always looking over our shoulders. I can't ask her to do that. It wouldn't be fair to her, she deserves better."

Charlie sighed and shook her head. "You know you really are just like him."

"Like who?"

"Bass. You and him are just alike. For the past three years, your dad has avoided me, wasting time because he decided that I deserved better so I should go be with someone else. Well guess what? That wasn't his decision to make. I knew exactly what I was getting into with him, and I still wanted it anyways. I love Bass, exactly the way he is, no conditions. I made my decision to be with him a long time ago.

"And you have to let Maya make her own decision, too. Because if you up and leave thinking that you're doing her a favor, you'll become the same kind of sad, pathetic guy that Bass was. The only difference is, that I waited for him to get his head out of his ass. You've already been away from Maya for two years, are you willing to risk that she might not be here waiting with open arms when you come crawling back?"

Conner swallowed thickly and looked away from her. "What if she doesn't choose me?" He asked quietly. And for just a moment, Charlie could see the same insecurities that she saw in Bass everyday. Laying a hand over his, she squeezed it gently.

"Then you move on." Then she added, "but I wouldn't worry about it too much. She seems like the kinda girl that knows what she wants."

"You think?" He asked hopefully.

"Trust me, she'll have you whipped into shape in no time."

"Oh, like you've got my dad?" He teased.

"Exactly."

They rode on for a while in companionable silence, each of them watching the ground on either side of the wagon for any sign of the escaped children. After about an hour of riding, Conner nudged her shoulder and pointed to their left.

"Look over there."

A mass of moving bodies, distorted by distance and a haze of heat, was moving steadily east. They pulled the horses in the group's direction and quickened their pace. As they grew closer, Conner shouted out to them.

"Claudia, wait. ¡Espérame!"

They pulled up alongside the group of girls, all of whom looked worn and thirsty. Claudia looked suspiciously at Conner but upon catching sight of Charlie, grinned.

"¿Esta terminado?" She asked with a hopeful face. Charlie glanced over at Conner questioningly.

"She wants to know if the fighting is over," he told her with a smile. Charlie looked back at Claudia and nodded, squeezing her shoulder gently.

"Yes. Are you ready to go home?"

Claudia looked in the direction of the town and smiled softly. "Yes. Home." Her voice was thick with emotion, but her English was easy to understand. She turned to the rest of the children, who all seemed to look to her as their leader, and said something in Spanish, waving them all towards the back of the wagon. Some of them cheered and some of them cried. Some of them did both.

Charlie hopped up into the back of the wagon to help the kids get situated and gave them all a drink from her canteen. Conner was with Claudia at the back of the wagon helping lift the little girls up onto the wagon bed. All in all, there were thirteen girls including Claudia. The little girl in the pink shirt that didn't have any pants on was last in line to be put in the wagon. Charlie watched Conner's face change from happy to be helping to guilty as he looked at her bare bottom half. He pulled off his sweaty over shirt, leaving him in a plain t-shirt, and bent down to tie it around her tiny waist like a skirt. The little girl smiled shyly up at him and he grinned back before lifting her gently to sit with the others.

Claudia looked him up and down, her eyes still a little skeptical, but she smiled nonetheless. "Good," she said slowly. Conner nodded and offered her his hand to help her up into the wagon as well. She accepted it gladly and settled herself amongst the younger girls.

"You ready go?" Charlie asked him from the bench up front. He smiled, probably the biggest one she had ever seen on him and rounded the wagon, jumping into the seat next to her.

"Yeah, let's get these girls home."

XxX

The children had all been returned home, the prisoners were all locked in their cells, and the base of operations for the Nunez cartel sat empty and unused at the end of the main road. Bass and Charlie were sitting side by side on the front porch of Ricardo's bar looking at the stars while the townsfolk celebrated their freedom inside.

"I kinda like Mexico," Charlie told him. "The people here are nice."

Bass kissed the side of her head and chuckled in her ear. "You just think they're nice because you can't understand what they're saying."

Nodding in agreement, she turned to kiss him gently on the lips. "I still like it here, though."

"Yeah, me too. They don't seem to hate me here as much as the people up north."

Charlie hummed in agreement as he leaned in for another kiss. Their lips moved slowly, a gentle exploration after a long, hard day.

"Oh, come on," Miles groaned as he and Jeremy piled out of the crowded bar onto the porch. "Get a room."

Charlie rolled her eyes and rested her head on Bass' shoulder. "Stop being such a baby, Miles. We were just kissing, it's not like we were fucking out here where everyone could see."

His eyes went wide and he covered his ears with his hands. "Ugh, I will never unheard that!"

The rest of them howled with laughter. Jeremy wiped the tears from his eyes and slapped Miles on the back. "Come on, man. It's not like she was a virgin."

Miles' eyes went, if possible, even wider and he groaned in horror. "So! She's... And I... I gave her a stuffed pony for her fourth birthday," he said weakly, taking a deep drink from the bottle in his hand.

They all laughed, if possible, even louder.

Maya came out onto the porch and looked around at the small, happy family, frowning slightly.

"What's wrong, Maya?" Bass asked, still laughing.

"Has anyone seen Conner? I can not find him anywhere."

But before anyone had a chance to really register what she'd said or even attempt to worry about the missing member of their family, an enormous explosion shook the ground beneath them. Bass, Miles, Charlie, and Jeremy were all on their feet in an instant looking towards Nunez's former compund as the the source of the noise. Bright orange and red flames were bursting into the sky. Nunez's mansion was on fire.

They all took off at a run. Not that there was much that they could do about the fire, but there was something to be done for whoever was trying to terrorize the town again. Just as they were approaching the gates, a lone figure staggered out of them using his arm to to cover his face in order to keep out the smoke.

Maya ran forward to meet the man, flinging her arms around him in relief. "Conner! Where have you been? I was so worried. What happened here? Why is the mansion on fire? Are you alright?"

She was speaking so quickly that Conner had to physically shake her shoulders to calm her down. "I'm fine, Maya. Relax." She huffed something in Spanish and grabbed his face in her hands as if inspecting him for injuries. It was only a matter of moments before half the town was standing outside the gates with them, watching as the entire house was engulfed in flames.

Conner wrapped an arm around Maya's shoulders and shrugged apologetically. "Sorry I didn't tell you guys where I was going. I just figured that this was one last thing that I needed to fix." He jerked his head in the direction of the burning house.

"You blew up the mansion?" Bass asked, sounding both annoyed and impressed.

He shrugged again, this time looking smug. "Yeah, I figured no one would mind getting rid of such an eyesore. Now they'll be able to walk down the street without the memory of Nunez looming over them."

Maya smiled up at him fondly and kissed him on the cheek. "It's perfect. I'm proud of you." He grinned happily, his eyes only for Maya as they left the scene of the burning house and went back to the bar. It seemed that all of the people had left to watch the fire, so the six of them picked a table and gathered around it. Bass sat with Charlie tucked against one side and Miles lounging back in his chair on the other. Conner and Maya cuddled up together across from them with Jeremy at the end of the table, pouring drinks to pass around.

He raised his glass and said, "to Mexico."

Everyone chuckled as he passed Conner a glass. "To explosives."

"Hear, hear," Miles laughed.

Maya lifted her glass and gave Conner a big smile. "To my hero." They all groaned good naturedly.

Miles raised his glass with a grimace and looked at the two happy couples at the table. "To really thick walls."

Bass punched him in the arm and looked around at everyone, his eyes stopping on Charlie. "To finally getting the girl."

She rolled her eyes playfully as everyone made disgusted faces and looked around at the six people surrounding the table. Raising her glass, Charlie said, "to family."

A/N Ah, the end! Thank you so much for reading, you guys truly are amazing.